Athena Needs To Calm Down
by merikflame
Summary: Athena has been too high strung lately, and Janey intends to fix that.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

"Alright, this way." Janey said, leading Athena down the hall.

"I don't like this, what if we get ambushed?" Athena asked, reaching for her blindfold, only to have Janey slap her hand away.

"We won't, this apartment doesn't even have windows." Janey said, arriving in the living room. She quickly sat Athena down in a chair placed at the center of the room. "Alright, you can look now." Janey said after flicking the lights off. Athena removed the blindfold to see Janey standing next to a projector.

"A slideshow?" Athena questioned. Nobody could blame Janey for not be spontaneous. Looking back toward the presentation, Athena could see it was titled "Athena Needs To Relax: By Janey Springs."

"Lets begin." Janey said, hitting a button on the clicker she was holding. The slide changed to reveal a picture of Athena sleeping. "Firstly we can see-"

"You took a picture of me sleeping?" Athena interrupted, an eyebrow raised.

"Please, save all questions for after the presentation." Janey said, turning back toward the picture. "Now, as you can see by this picture, the subject sleeps wearing a bulletproof vest whilst clutching what appears to be a handgun." Janey points out.

"I'm confused, what are you trying to-"

"Again, please save all questions for after the presentation." Janey said, moving to the next slide. "As you can clearly see in this photograph, the subject wears full combat gear as casual clothing." Janey said, pointing to a picture of Athena eating a bowl of cereal, outfitted in her red armor. Athena looked down and noted that she was still wearing it. "Also note again, how there is a gun sitting next to the bowl." Janey said, moving to the next slide.

The next slide consisted of a list of things Athena had done.

"As detailed by the following list, Athena has: Only slept once in the past three weeks (See slide one), nearly stabbed the mailman for ringing the doorbell, slept in a kevlar vest, and continued being pretty. Disclaimer, that last one is unrelated to the topic at hand." Janey finished.

"So, from what I can gather, you want me to 'loosen up' a little?" Athena asked, not sure of where this was going.

"Precisely! Which is why I purpose…" Janey started, pointing the clicker at the projector and changing the slide over to a picture of what appeared to be a city. "A romantic getaway!" Janey proclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. Athena was taken aback. This wasn't at all how she saw her day going. "Eden-4 has the most luxurious cities in the galaxy, and I've been saving for a vacation for some time now. I say we catch a shuttle, spend a week in paradise, unwind a bit, then come on home." Janey said, flipping the lights on. "What do you say?"

Athena was torn. On one hand it sounded like a terrific idea, but at the same time she had never been anywhere but military camps and desserts.

"That sounds lovely Janey, but I…" Athena paused to think over what she had to say, and a frown had already found it's way to Janey's lips.

"Come on Athena. It'll just be you and I. and you need to learn how to relax." Janey said, placing a hand on the hesitant girl's shoulder. "Please? For me?" Athena could hear the worry in the other girls voice, and she had to admit she had been a bit… on edge since she arrived, but she had to be. She had done a lot of things over the years that she wasn't too proud of, and more than one person would gladly accept her head on a platter for them.

"I… Janey, you know I'm not the best when it comes to romantic situations. Really the only social experience I've ever had was meeting you." Athena said, standing up. "But, if it'll make you happy, I'll go." She said, only to be pulled into a bear a second later.

"Thanks." Janey said, holding Athena tight. Athena smiled and reciprocated the hug. Janey pulled away a moment later and moved to the other end of the room to grab a suitcase. "We better start packing, the next shuttle leaves this weekend." She said as she handed Athena the case. "And no armor or weapons, please?" Janey asked.

"I… sure." Athena nodded, walking back toward the shared bedroom. She was going to have to borrow some of Janey's clothes, since a majority of the clothes she owned were armor. Janey moved over to her computer and quickly ordered some tickets.

One thing was certain. Next week was going to be interesting.

…

**I wanted to write some Janey/Athena because there isn't nearly enough of it. That, and it was confirmed as canon by Anthony Burch.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

"Right on time." Janey said, looking down at the tickets. The shuttle was about to take off and Athena had "accidentally" packed three cases of assault rifles, so they arrived at the terminal a little behind schedule. "We might have gotten here a little earlier if you hadn't taken forever to unpack." Janey quipped.

"Eden-4 is a big place, I just wanted to make sure I had some protection." Athena said, crossing her arms.

"Right, well at least you didn't pack any armor." Janey said as she moved closer to the metal detectors. Athena hesitated a moment before following. Instead of her regular combat gear, Athena was now dressed in a much more casual red hoodie and jeans.

"Alright, next." A rather stout man ordered. Janey complied and walked through the detector, setting off no alarms. "Next." The man said, obviously impatient. Athena paused for a moment, clutching her left arm. "Come on, next." The man said, urging Athena forward. Janey raised a suspecting eyebrow.

"Dammit." Athena muttered, rolling up her sleeve to reveal her shield generator.

"Oh for the love of…" Janey trailed off. Athena detached the device and set it in a basket to be scanned, leaving her arm wrapped in a black armband.

"That there's a class-12 digistructer, you got a license for that?" The man asked, looking over the device. Athena nodded and handed him the paperwork. As she walked through the detector the light came up green, indicating that, for the most part, she was clean.

"Well, guess that means you don't have anything else on ya." Janey said as Athena retrieved the shield generator and reattached it. She turned back to Janey and looked away for a moment, as if searching for the words.

"...Sorry." She said, rolling her sleeve up so the shield could digistruct properly, if need be.

"It's alright." Janey sighed, throwing an arm over Athena's shoulder. "I'll let ya keep the shield." She said, walking toward the shuttle. "Now that _that _is behind us, we get to look forward to a week of relaxation!" She exclaimed, stepping onto the shuttle.

"... Yes… relaxation…" Athena said, looking nervously around the ship. "Janey, this ship is extremely cramped. If someone were to pull out a gun they'd have an easy shot." Athena said, holding her shield arm up.

"Calm down." Janey said, pushing Athena's arm down. "Nobody in here is going to pull out a gun, lets just take a seat, and relax." Janey said, leading the the gladiator to her seat.

"Right… sorry." Athena said, looking around. "I'm… just not used to being around so many people." She said. It was true. The only large groups of people Athena would be comfortable with were her fellow Crimson Lance assassins, and they were all gone. Developing social skills can be pretty hard when your only companion is a battlefield.

"It's alright, these shuttles are known for having the lowest mortality rate around!" Janey said.

"Exactly how low?" Athena asked, shooting a dirty look toward the flight attendant. Just then an intercom buzzed to life at the from of the cabin.

"We here at Concordian Airlines are glad to let you know that this station has gone over thirty days without an act of terrorism!" A happy female voice sounded.

"Uh… right, well try not to think about it." Janey said, setting down her fold out tray. "In the meantime, I'm hungry." She said, waving a flight attendant over. "Yeah, I'd like the Skag-steak with a side of…" Janey's voice drowned into the background as Athena focused in on the flight attendant who was taking the order. Something seemed… off.

"Excuse me." Athena interrupted.

"Ah yes, would you like something too?" The woman asked, her notepad open. Athena quickly grabbed her by her shirt collar and drew her closer.

"Who sent you?" Athena asked, her voice low.

"Wha?! I-I'm sorry, what?!" The frightened woman asked.

"I know you're an assassin, you have to be." Athena said, ready to digistruct her shield.

"Athena." Janey said, tapping her on the shoulder. "As fun as it is watching you about to kill our stewardess, I would actually like to get my steak." She said. Athena blinked a few times before loosening her grip.

"Uh, yes… of course." She said, letting the attendant go.

"I-I'll go get your steak right away ma'am, a-and it's on the house!" The frightened woman yelled as she ran away.

"What's wrong with you today? Awful jumpy, even by your standards." Janey said, leaning back.

"Sorry, there are a lot more variables to take into account today. With all these people and such a vulnerable ship, anything could happen." Athena said, tightening the harness on her shield.

"It's alright." Janey said, once again throwing her arm over Athena's shoulder. "Why don'tcha try and get some sleep?" She offered.

"If I do that, I'll be left even more vulnerable to attack." Athena argued.

"Nobody's going to attack you." Janey pleaded. "Please? It's been weeks since you last slept." She begged.

"I-I, I don't know, I-"

"Athena." Janey said, begging now.

"... Alright." Athena said, looking around one last time before leaning into Janey's shoulder. She did a good job of hiding it, but to tell the truth, Athena was exhausted. Atlas had trained her to endure long periods without sleep, but this was pushing it.

"Thanks." Janey said, holding the gladiator tighter. "I'll wake you when we get there." Janey smiled. These new shuttles had faster than light tech on board, making it possible for interplanetary travel to be done within hours of departure.

Within minutes Athena was out, silently snoozing away as the ship was preparing for take off.

"E-excuse me." A shy voice came from the side. Janey turned to see it was the steak she had ordered.

"Oh thanks." Janey said as the stewardess set the plate down in front of her. Janey was about to start eating when she discovered her arm trapped by Athena. "Welp, I guess I'm eating with one hand then, should be fun!" Janey said, picking ip the knife with her free hand.

The vacation was officially underway, and so far Athena had only threatened one person. That, in Janey's book, was a small victory.


End file.
